News About This Theater

Located in Richmond Heights to the west of St. Louis, MO. Opened on November 8, 1939 with 2,202 seats, this vintage Art Deco style theater was renovated into a seven screen multiplex. Retains vintage charm including an exterior ticket booth. It was closed for renovation in May 2014 and reopened October 17, 2014.

Seating capacity of the Esquire has been drastically reduced by the renovation. Photo captions in the article JAlex linked to says that the big, main screen auditorium now has 270 seats, there are four auditoriums with 100 seats each, and a screening room with 63 seats. The capacity of the seventh auditorium is not given, but as it has to be less than 270 the total capacity of the house now must be less than 1,000, and less than 900 if the seventh auditorium is small enough.

Exhibitors have gotten themselves into a situation where they have to re-seat their theaters with bigger seats because they’ve made their customers' butts enormous by peddling those giant tubs of greased popcorn.